Pakistan is beefing up security in the tribal northwest, the military said Friday, after days of protests over twin blasts which killed 69 people in the town which has suffered most from militancy this year. The announcement by the military came a day after protesters rejected an offer from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to financially … Read more
At least 11 people were killed and 24 wounded on Friday when twin blasts tore through a market crowded with shoppers preparing for the Eid holidays in a mainly Shiite area of Pakistan’s tribal belt. The first blast came during rush hour in the market in Parachinar, capital of Kurram tribal district, local official Nasrullah … Read more
Pakistan and Afghanistan plan on using Google Maps to help resolve a border dispute that led to deadly clashes last week, a senior Pakistani security source said Monday. At least eight civilians were killed on both sides in fighting that began when a Pakistani census team accompanied by soldiers visited disputed villages along the southern … Read more
Pakistan’s military on Sunday said it had killed more than 50 Afghan soldiers in a clash on a major border crossing two days earlier, a claim quickly rejected by Kabul. The skirmish took place Friday at the Chaman border that divides Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province and Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar, as Pakistani officials were carrying out … Read more
Pakistani and Afghan officials accused each other of killing civilians Friday after gunfire erupted near a major border crossing where Pakistani census officials were carrying out a count. The gunfight prompted Pakistani authorities to shut the Chaman border crossing, one of only two major crossing points along the disputed frontier, and threatens to exacerbate already … Read more
At least six people were killed and 50 wounded on Friday when a bomb tore through a market in a mainly Shiite area of Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt, local officials told AFP. Doctors said they feared the death toll would rise after the attack in Parachinar, capital of the Kurram tribal district, as television footage … Read more
Pakistan has begun building a fence along its border with Afghanistan to curtail the movement of militants, its army said, in a move criticised by its eastern neighbour for dividing communities. The two nations are divided by the “Durand Line”, a 2,400-kilometre (1,500-mile) frontier drawn by the British in 1896 and disputed by Kabul, which … Read more
Pakistan on Monday ordered the border with Afghanistan to be reopened “immediately”, a month after it was closed amid soaring tensions as Islamabad and Kabul accused one another of providing safe haven for militants. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered the two main crossings on the long, porous border be reopened as a gesture of “goodwill”, … Read more
Pakistan on Thursday announced plans to bring its militancy-wracked tribal areas into the mainstream political fold by ending a de facto system of direct rule that critics said suppressed development and fuelled extremism. Situated on the country’s northwest border with Afghanistan, the region became a central arena in the global war on terror in the … Read more
Farzana draws all eyes when she dances, with the twist of her hips and hair — but today she is above all the voice of a Pakistani community with an ambiguous status: the khawajasiras. The 30-year-old is a guru, a matriarch at the head of a “family” of several hundred khawajasiras, an umbrella term in … Read more